What it sells
A place for independent writing.
Business model breakdown
Buyer: who owns the budget?
UnverifiedReaders who pay creators for subscriptions; creators are the platform users.
Trigger: what makes them buy now?
Writers want to earn directly from an audience and own their mailing list without gatekeepers.
Workflow: what inputs become what output?
Start a publication, publish posts/podcasts/video, collect paid subscriptions, grow through Substack recommendations and Notes.
Economics: what it saves and how it charges
Takes a cut of creator revenue: writers keep 90% minus credit card fees; claims 5 million paid subscriptions and "we only make money when you do".
Distribution: how it reaches customers
Self-serve signup, in-app network discovery (30%+ of paid subscriptions come from within the network), app.
Funding history and coverage
| Round date | Stage | Amount | Investors | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | Y Combinator Winter 2018 | — | Y Combinator | ycombinator.com |
Profiles summarize public reporting and company websites. Business-model notes are MaxBC's reading of that material, not confirmed facts; unknowns are left blank rather than guessed. Updated 2026-10-12.